Lately absorbent products such as sanitary napkins, diapers, incontinence pads or similar items have come to be made thinner and more flexible, while concurrently their component materials have been improved and achieved higher absorbent capacities. Thus products have become both more comfortable and more discrete to wear while their effectiveness has been maintained. Another important advantage is that the products can be packed into less bulky packages whereby storage and transport is appreciably less expensive.
To be able to fully exploit the advantages of the new thinner products, it is however desirable that they have a shape such that no empty, unused regions are formed between products when in a package. Furthermore it is also desirable that before the products are packaged they can be folded together, without loss of shape or function, into a shape which is more managable for the user. From a packaging point of view, such products should be essentially flat and preferably have a rectangular shape.
These requirements, however, correspond badly with the requirements which are placed on the product during use. To achieve a high user comfort and resistance to leakage, the product must in use, take up a three-dimensional form which adopts the user's body shape without chafing or otherwise irritating the user's skin.
Attempts which have been made up to now to solve this problem are most often built upon the use of special shaping elements made of plastic or, or a similar material, which are put in the absorbent body. These shaping elements are activated when the product is used through being subjected to pressure from the user's body, for example by compression between the user's legs. Such shaping elements are described in EP 335,252 and EP 335,253.
The disadvantages with these known shaping elements are many. They are comparatively expensive and complicated to manufacture, which together with the increased material consumption makes the production of the finished product more expensive. With so called disposable products, that is products which are supposed to be discarded after only one use, manufacturing costs and material consumption are both extremely important factors to which considerable attention must be paid both in order that the product can be sold for a reasonable price and also that the quantity of material which has to be transported, stored and finally thrown away should be able to be minimised. Especially from an enviromental view point it is desirable to minimise the quantity of material used.
Another disadvantage is that products containing special shaping elements cannot be packed folded together without the shaping elements being damaged or destroyed. Furthermore, shaping elements bring the risk that sharp folds or corners on the shaping element chafe and irritate the user's skin.
A further method for bringing about the shaping of an absorbent product in use is through providing the product with fold indications in the form of welds or compression lines. The foremost disadvantage with this is that it is impossible to control that the desired bending or folding actually takes place in the intended direction. The risk that the product instead folds or bends in the opposite direction is considerable and thus the leakage resistance of the product is strongly reduced. A further disadvantage is that welds or compression lines are stiff and hard which means that the risk of chafing and irritation of the user's skin is considerable. In particular if the product has been folded together before use there is a big risk that sharp corners or folds have been formed wherever the folding together took place in the direction crossing the fold lines.